Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "la tarde" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce la tarde in Spanish?

la tarde is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /la ˈtaɾ.ðe/. It means “afternoon.” lah TAHR-theh — the same word as the adverb meaning late, made a noun by the article.

lah TAHR-theh — the same word as the adverb meaning late, made a noun by the article.

la tarde /la ˈtaɾ.ðe/

Two syllables, TAR-de, beat on the first, following the default rule. Identical in stress to the adverb, since it is the same word wearing a different hat. The plural "tardes" appears in the greeting "buenas tardes", which covers the whole afternoon and early evening.

Listen: la tarde

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Sound it out

la A bright forward l and a wide "ah", unstressed and leaning onto the noun.

tar A dry dental t, a wide-open "ah", and a single tap of the r. The vowel stays clean rather than being swallowed by the r.

de A soft d, brushed against the upper teeth because an r precedes it, plus a fully pronounced short "eh".

Hear it in a sentence

Nos vemos esta tarde.

See you this afternoon.

Listen: Nos vemos esta tarde.

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"Nos vemos esta tarde" uses the reflexive "vernos" for seeing each other, and "esta tarde" needs the demonstrative because Spanish would not say "la tarde" for this specific afternoon. "Vemos" starts with a v as a b sound: BEH-mos.

Where English speakers slip

Drop the final e and curl the r, and two syllables collapse into an English-sounding "tard". Both need fixing. The subtler issue is knowing which sense you are in: "llego tarde" means I arrive late, while "llego en la tarde" means I arrive in the afternoon — and the difference is entirely in the article and preposition.